Senior had $11,000 stolen by tenants

A 93-year-old woman who was bilked out of more than $11,000 by a tenant never made it to court to learn the fate of the woman she opened her home to.

The elderly St. Catharines woman died eight months after Ashley Whitty was charged with fraudrelated offences.

Whitty pleaded guilty in an Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Thursday to two charges of fraud under $5,000. The first-time offender was granted a suspended sentence and placed on probation and ordered to compensate the victim’s estate.

Assistant Crown attorney Tim Hill told court the victim had posted an ad on an online site to rent out the basement of her Glenridge Avenue home.

Whitty and her boyfriend answered the ad and subsequently moved in to the woman’s home.

Court was told the woman would invite the couple upstairs for visits. It was during one of these visits that the victim’s cheque book was stolen.

Between April 2016 and September 2016, 20 cheques were forged and cashed. Hill said the total fraud was estimated to be $11,000.

Defence counsel V.J. Singh said his client was “not the operating mind of this criminal offence,” adding the co-accused received a jail sentence for his role in the fraud.

He said Whitty has turned her life around after beating a drug addiction.

While crediting her for overcoming substance abuse issues, Judge Fergus O’Donnell also warned her “addiction never really goes away.” “There’s always that danger that lurks just below the surface,” he said.